Republican senators are increasingly uneasy about President Trump’s standoff with Democratic governors over deploying National Guard troops from other states to Portland, Ore., and Chicago.

The conflict between federal and state authorities escalated dramatically over the weekend when Trump moved to send National Guard soldiers to Oregon and Illinois despite opposition from their respective governors, Tina Kotek and JB Pritzker.

Trump’s use of military forces was all the more controversial because a Trump-appointed federal judge for the District of Oregon ruled Saturday that the administration could not federalize Oregon’s National Guard to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Portland.

Senate Republicans want to support Trump’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration, but they said the president’s actions are raising alarming questions about states' rights, presidential authority and the precedent of deploying National Guard troops across state lines.

“I worry about someday a Democrat president sending troops or National Guard from New York, California, Oregon, Washington state to North Carolina. I think it’s bad precedent,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).

“If you look at this particular issue, I don’t see how you can argue that this comports with any sort of conservative view of states’ rights,” he added.

Tillis told Attorney General Pam Bondi at a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing Wednesday that the cities and states should be handling local crime themselves.

“I’m having a real struggle right now with the National Guard being deployed and masking the abject........

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